San Diego boaters help preserve bay water quality

May 15, 2007

This Saturday morning, San Diego boaters are invited to attend a UC Cooperative Extension Boat Hull Invasive Species & Water Quality Seminar. Experts will share information about research on boat hull coatings that don't pollute the bay.

According to a "UC Delivers" article by Leigh Taylor Johnson of the Sea Grant Extension Program, boat owners have been using copper paints to control "hull fouling," the buildup of aquatic plants and animals on the hull. Hull fouling slows sailboats and increases powerboat fuel consumption. Copper leached from the paints into the bay, however, harms marine life. Johnson and program representative Jaime Gonzalez conducted field trials of nontoxic epoxy and ceramic expoxy hull coatings. The alternative coatings are a little more expensive, but the cost is offset by the nontoxic coatings' longer service life.

More details will be presented at the seminar, to take place from 9 to 10 a.m. at the Sunroad Resort Marina, 955 Harbor Island Drive in San Diego. For more information, contact Gonzalez at jagonzalez@ucdavis.edu.